About Us

Maniac Films was started at the end of 2002 by Mark Brindle as an escape from some of the creative limitations of the Telecoms and IT Industry. We now run as a small team for video production, crew hire, post production / VFX, camera hire and disc production services. For larger projects we draw from a pool of talented & trusted professionals to bring in extra skills when needed. Meet some of the Maniac core team:

Mark Brindle

Mark is self-taught in camera work and post production and recently wrote the best selling Digital Filmmakers Handbook (Quercus 2013). Mark remains a computer geek and is adamant this is necessary for post production work.

Mark is a master member of the UK Institute of Videography (IOV) & shootingpeople.org and has won several IOV and Media Innovation Awards for films and DVDs through the South West media innovation network. He has an BENG Hons engineering degree in Electronic Computer Systems from Salford University and was a Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) in a previous lifetime and is a STEM ambassador.

Mark has worked for many Blue-chip companies on high technology IT projects across the world and now for major brands in video production and disc authoring. He loves technical challenges, learning new stuff and Science Fiction.

Mark generally works in the following roles: Director of Photography, camera operator, lighting cameraman, focus puller, jib operator, online editor, visual effects producer, VFX artist and DVD authoring, but can also work on his own as director/lighting/sound/camera.

Stuart Gaunt

Stu Gaunt joined Maniac Films full time in 2008 after being involved on a number of filming projects as a freelancer. Stu is an Associate member of the UK Institute of Videography (IOV) and his work has been nominated for a Media Innovation Award through the South West Media Innovation network.

Stu has been a skateboarder for over 20 years and first started using a video camera when he injured himself one summer and couldn’t skate – so he filmed his friends instead. This led to him taking a college course and making a number of local skate films, then progressing into work for local festivals and theatre groups which he continues to do today.

A lover of photography, Stu not only works in the digital medium but also owns a large collection of vintage film cameras dating back to the 1950’s.

Stu has worked on a number of feature drama productions as jib & dolly grip, sound recordist, photographer, visual effects and rotoscoping artist. He generally works as sound mixer/recordist/boom operator as well as camera operator, gimbal operator, lighting grip and manages the equipment rental at Maniac Films. He also does a lot of DVD & Blu-ray authoring and product photography too.